Jul 1
Posted 326 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
Ensuring a good holiday weekend for the millions taking a ride out to a (soon to be closed?) National Park or the beach, President Obama opened up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, releasing 30 million barrels of oil last week. Normally, this is the exact sort of position that I love to blast. However, there are two reasons, considered or not, that this move may be less about gas and more about serious macroeconomics.
Posted 339 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
As economic indicators point toward extended stagnation, it’s time for the feds to realize that they will need to take responsibility for burgeoning state debts or risk cutting the legs out of what meager recovery we can get. In exchange, fiscal responsibility types should require states to buy into a sort of insurance program: during good times, states pay a percentage of their budget into a federally administered fund, which can then be used during recessions to smooth spending without pushing the deficit.
Jun 10
Posted 346 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
Both parties saw the other side of the double-edged filibuster earlier this week. Democrats, lead by Dick Durbin, prevented an attempt to delay implementation of a cap on debit-card interchange fees that passed last year as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform. Despite 54 votes for the highly contentious measure, the amendment failed; its bipartisan supporters were unable to reach the magic cloture threshold of 60. Regardless of the merits of this provision, which essentially invited lawmakers to choose which major interest group, retailers or bankers, they wanted to distribute profits to, a pair of interesting observations about the filibuster can be drawn from this incident.
Jun 6
Posted 350 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
There are many good ways to help lower-income families build wealth, but subsidizing home ownership is no longer one of them.
May 16
Posted 371 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
Conservatives love to cast progressive policy as the heavy thumb of government policy attempting to pick winners instead of letting the market do its work. But in urban policy, especially transportation, conservatives are happy to oppose any kind of subsidy to rail or buses while not making a peep about restrictions on the free market in public transportation. Maybe the common thread are the sorts of people that these regulations hurt. . . .
Posted 381 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
While America was understandably caught up in the news about Osama bin Laden this week, two of America’s closest allies held elections. Canadians went to the polls for the fourth time in seven years to select a new Parliament, and Britons voted on a new method for choosing theirs.
Posted 388 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
The Economist ran a special report last week about the dysfunctional mess that is California’s finances. Along with providing their outsider’s perspective on the out of whack initiative process and legislative supermajority rules that make the Senate filibuster look sane, the Economist considered, with gentle British mockery, the multitude of elected state officials . . .
Apr 22
Posted 395 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals visited Harvard Law School yesterday to discuss his recent blistering dissent in a Fourth Amendment case.
Apr 12
Posted 405 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
Drivers circling the streets of San Francisco looking for a place to park their cars currently constitute 30% of on-street traffic. That number may be dropping very soon. The city has announced a pilot project to adjust the prices of thousands of parking meters in high traffic areas to reflect the demand for the spots.
Apr 6
Posted 411 days ago by Yevgeny Shrago
First time visitors to Detroit are struck by a sense of awe at the sheer scale of abandoned buildings. Very few of them consider the practical implications that residents deal with every day: Detroit’s infrastructure is designed to support at least 2 million people, but the population has dwindled to 700,000. . . .
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